A swell video! Golly, I must share with my friends!

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• John the River July 22, 2021, 5:38 AM

  Not one face buried in their phone, in fact no personal phones.
  Jacket and ties, no sleeveless T’s. Dresses on every girl and none on any boy. And not one drop of ink on anyone, nor pieces of metal embedded in their skin.
  The best of times and we thought they would last forever.

  ∞
• Gary G. Staud July 22, 2021, 8:15 AM

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2595abcvh2M

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• Dirk July 22, 2021, 10:20 AM

  John, I miss those days. I’m ashamed to admit I have two tattoos, 1976 Pinky’s, in HongKong. I’m the last one of a crew who all got the tats. Fortunately both are cover when I’m wearing pants or shorts. No ex sailor wears underwear!

  Once won a contest in which I got to be on the Captain Delta show. A cartoon show, Proudly wore my Cub Scout uniform with Troop 29 displayed on the sleeve shoulders. My little sister in her pressed Brownie outfit.

  Enough aqua Net hairspray in her hair to hold steady the Golden Gate Bridge in a “ blow”. Mom drove us to Sacramento in the old ranch truck, four speed on the floor, “ with granny gear” shifting precisely as if she were shifting a Porsche at the road America road races.

  Every vehicle, American made, big iron,,,,,,boldly and proudly built by master mechanics.

  Not much TV for us, we had chores, our hobbies were horse riding, we also had pony carts, bicycle riding, baseball and football. A bit later motorcycles. After 7 yrs old summer time, clearly remember mom and Dad when he was home from work, feeding us a hearty breakfast telling us to be home by dark,

  No swimming in the creeks surrounding Rocklin on all sides, unless other kids were present. We ALL knew how to swim, lessons starting at 4/5 every summer.

  We had no time for the nonsense children do today. Play games locked down inside a house? Nonsense, day lights a burning. We lived to play out doors. Staying inside was punishment, remember crying when the gang would walk by, and borrow a basketball, or a football, to play on the school playground, “ across the street from my home”.

  I miss walking nine miles to schools in the snow, straight uphill both ways! Did I mention I lived across the street from our elementary school. Never the less, everyday we left early enough to walk thru the streets, gathering the gang then walk to school.

  Early on I was the tail gunner on the monkey bars, we all had assigned assignments. Lived on 1200 high, Rat Patrol, and Vic Morrow in Combat.

  Sadly in this day and age it wouldn’t be wise to allow our youth to have the privilege of roaming freely until dark as we did. Their are still places these things happen, but the elders have worked long and hard to retain that level of freedoms for their youth. It’s up to those children who are now young adults, well adults to maintain that status. City hall remains small, never ever a thought of electing an outside, unless they’ve been their thirty years. Have demonstrated their life’s values are similar.

  Responsibility learned young, we all had ranch jobs, I had to feed the horses, and milk cows, mow the laws, had a paper route. Had to hand bottle feed the drop calf’s we bought every four months, until they were big enough to hay feed.

  Every six months we butchered the biggest one, for meat. At one time I had to man the butter churn, my sister eventually took that over. Our cloths were clean pressed, not new but serviceable, mended knees etc etc. our hair was short, we said dinner prayers, gave thanks for the fresh “ free range eggs” hell all eggs were free range back then.”

  Fresh beef, goat pig and the fresh veggies out of the family garden. Fresh fruit seasonally off the abundance of fruit trees.

  Know what? I wouldn’t change a thing. Not one thing. On top of that my wife and me raised our children very close how we were raised.

  I’ll still take the United States for 10.000 GV,

  Apparently I’m one of the few whom are still proud of my country!

  Dirk

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• Mike Austin July 22, 2021, 12:09 PM

  Dirk: You described my own childhood almost to a ‘T’. I am now 68 years old.

  A friend of mine recently asked me if America could ever return to those halcyon days. I answered no, and explained that the moral and mental foundations necessary to build and maintain such a complex and beautiful civilization no longer exist in enough quantities to do so.

  What will arise from the ashes remaining after the fall? And please believe me, once things have worked themselves out there will be ashes. No one—no one—knows. All I can safely say is that it will be different from the Eden you described. Quite different.

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• gwbnyc July 22, 2021, 3:45 PM

  Rat Patrol, Dirk?

  real: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Range_Desert_Group

  -we knew every path in every woods, every creek, every old car grown over with weeds, every shortcut, every haunted house, every mean bicycle-chasing dog.

  I vividly recall being unsure as to why I no longer fit under the shrubs next to the house, floored with fine, still dirt, a netherscape of ant lion pits. It must have changed, I said, a head taller.

  ∞
• ghostsniper July 23, 2021, 12:13 PM

  When I was a kid we had dirt. And a garden hose.

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